


#9 For the Greater Good

by TemporaryDysphoria



Series: TD's Whumptober 2020 [8]
Category: Lupin III
Genre: Future Fic, Implied Character Death, Introspection, Prompt: Run, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:01:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27347050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TemporaryDysphoria/pseuds/TemporaryDysphoria
Summary: It is not such a bad day after all, for an honourable death.Prompt 9 for Whumptober 2020Prompt was: Run
Series: TD's Whumptober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947205
Kudos: 16
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	#9 For the Greater Good

There is no honour in dying old. In becoming so frail and brittle that the weather itself proves a mortal enemy. It may be acceptable - at the very least - for some. But not for Goemon. 

Not for Goemon who was born from the ashes of his grandfather's demise. Who learned to hold a sword even as he learned to walk. He, who spilled the blood of another at a devastatingly young age, so he could learn how a life felt in his hands. 

He, who would spill blood again and again and again. Until life and death became blurred, meaningless states of being. Until his hands were stained so red that no amount of washing would remove the ichor. 

Goemon would fall in battle, like his father before him, like his grandfather before him. 

This was simply how it would be. 

He had known this. Had always known this. 

Only. 

He’d never considered a time frame. 

And now here he is. In the middle of a village somewhere south of Cairo. Lupin, Jigen and Fujiko are working as fast as they can to fix the ‘borrowed’ jeep and in the distance the dust of military vehicles is getting closer and closer. The heat of the Egyptian sun bears down upon him, reflected in the sand, and he wonders for a moment if perhaps this is it?

Goemon has spent his whole life walking slowly towards an honourable death. 

It occurs to him now, watching Jigen push his hat back (revealing more silver in his hair these days than black) and bark at Lupin for the wrench that his time for honour may be fast approaching. The others will complete the repairs, of that he’s certain - but they won’t make the distance required to escape from the clutches of the military. 

Of that, he’s also certain. 

The dust cloud is getting nearer. Vehicles dot the horizon as far as the eye can see. All heading at breakneck speed to the same place. Like ants, to a crumb of sugar. 

Lupin jumps up as Jigen turns the ignition. The thief’s exuberance never fails to surprise Goemon, even after all these years. The battered jeep gives a deep growl, then a cantankerous rumble, before it finally roars to life. Fujiko gives a yell of delight, and slides neatly into the back seat. 

“Come on, Goemon,” Lupin yells over the engine, gesturing to the empty seat. 

Goemon considers it, and then looks back at the vultures circling in on them. They are close enough that he can make out the number plates on the individual vehicles. 

Too close. 

“Go,” he says instead, turning his back to his colleagues. 

“Goemon, what are you doing?” Fujiko’s voice carries over his shoulder.

He doesn’t turn around. He’d never considered a time frame, but here and now, it simply made sense. He was not a young man anymore, not old by any stretch of the imagination, but no longer green and immature. He had lived. He had loved. He was prepared to die, with honour. 

“Go,” he says again, “You won’t have time otherwise. I will provide a distraction.”

“There’s too many you idiot” Jigen’s voice is loud and gruff, words grumbled around the unlit cigarette. That’s how  _ he _ will die, Goemon knows. He’s kept the habit too well for far too long to become subject to anything else. 

He plants his feet on the ground, and closes his eyes, visualising his actions.

“Go! Run! Before you cannot!” 

He unsheathes the Zantetsuken and ignores Lupin’s cuss words. Jigen swears and then the jeep roars as he plunges his foot to the floor, speeding off in its own cloud of dust. 

When he opens his eyes the black line on the horizon is no longer. It’s now a semi-circle, closing in on its target. A target where he; Goemon Ishikawa is the bullseye. Metal screeches against metal as guns get turned towards his direction. 

Zantetsuken gleams in the sunlight, and when Goemon leaps, the sword sings with fury. 

It is not such a bad day after all, for an honourable death. 


End file.
